The diary continues. The diary confirms I spend a lot of time with Bluetooth headphones on, listening to Amazon Music and watching You Tube and Netflix. These are part of my leisure routine in addition to this course which involves blogs and internet research. This course has also re-introduced me to good old fashioned books.
I noted that I played a CD the other day which was the probably first time this year. This made me think about the analogue to digital media age, including photography. I had already noted the things I now take for granted around the home – books on shelves, DVD cabinet, CD Cabinet, Vinyl LPs tucked away.
I had an idea that would be a continuation of Assignment 2 which was about the negative events in my life using nostalgia and ephemera. I thought I would develop a new idea which looked at the nostalgia relating to listening to vinyl and CDs reading books, watching DVDs (most of my VHS went to a charity shop many years ago). I would present these images as a narrative about who I am, what my interests were and are now. These collections of archives and currently used media are all on display or in cabinets around the living space, not stored in lofts or cellars.
It will be a ‘self absented portraiture’ piece, tackling the mundane, like Nigel Shafron’s Washing Up. I will attempt to produce a narrative of my interaction with analogue and digital media which will tell the viewer a lot about me without me being present. I don’t want the images to be too staged as I want to make it like a wander around my home. The older media will be shown in cabinets fairly well organised and unused. The modern media will be shown in current use.
I was also intrigued by the notion that stress in the modern age is on the increase due to humans not keeping pace with technology and how quickly technology has moved on relative to mankind’s existence. We used to be ‘deep divers’, reading books, LP sleeve notes. Now we are ‘jet skiers’ skimming across readily available digital media.
Lighting and composition are going to be key to the success of this assignment. I want mundane day to day but also ‘photographic’. I’ll try flash and soft boxes to see what effect this has. I want the viewer to be able to read the titles of the books and CDs but I don’t want to get in to close as it is about the mundane day to day and the movement of time – analogue to digital.
I will research Nigel Shafran and Abellardo Morell as a starting point.
Martyn Rainbird 